Well I've been back in the states for a little over a month now, and things are finally starting to feel like home again. I've been fortunate to have lots of fun building opportunities come my way. I'm still doing lots of learning, and a little bit of teaching along the way, and striking the balance between work and learning is a continued challenge. Over the last three weeks I've done a lot! I led a cob oven workshop for a group of Girl Scouts out at Camp Pisgah for Girl Scout University weekend. It was good and wet (and chilly) that weekend, but the oven is 80% completed, and I hope the girls learned a lot! After the workshop, I headed up to Ithaca, NY for work with my timber framing teacher, Sarah Highland of highlandartisan.com. I spent a week cutting joinery for some timber framed playhouses that Sarah designed for a playscape created by Rusty Keeler. His playscapes are super fun, natural, child-friendly, and beautiful! Check out his work at earthplay.net.After heading back to NC from Ithaca, I worked with Josh Carter and Eight Owls Farmstead to lead a weekend cob oven workshop and create a lovely outdoor oven for the women at the farm. It rained the entire weekend, and I believe the high was 49 degrees, but the workshop participants were stellar! We all barefoot cob mixed and had a lovely time! Thanks to Corey and Oslo for always keeping us supplied with a nice fire and warm water, and thanks to Josh and Matthew for the impromptu porch concert! At the end of the weekend the two door cob oven was nearly completed! Check out the photos below!

It looks like my next two big adventures are working with Heirloom Timber Framing in Brasstown, NC and heading out to Driggs, ID for the summer to work with my good friends Lindsey, Liz, and Emilie to build Lindsey a strawbale house! Look out Idaho, here we come!